


Bruises, Drumbeats, Warm Fur

by Wingardium_levi00sa



Category: Harry Potter - Fandom, Wolfstar - Fandom, marauders - Fandom
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-06
Updated: 2015-02-06
Packaged: 2018-03-10 19:15:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,641
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3300602
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wingardium_levi00sa/pseuds/Wingardium_levi00sa
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sirius comes to visit Remus at the hospital wing in the dead of night after a transformation.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Bruises, Drumbeats, Warm Fur

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this for the 3/5 challenge: bruises, drumbeats, Warm fur, cactus, and fountain pen. Please review because I would love feedback! This is my first fic!

The drumbeats were getting louder. Or was that the sound of his heart racing? Or maybe the pounding in his head..? Perhaps a combination of the three. The resonating sound was making his fur stand on it's end. The only light was the full moon shining into the clearing around him. He crouched down low and began to slink backwards, further into the tall, dry grass. He could smell their scent in the air. His ears twitched as he picked up the sound of their war cries, and knew the tribe had found him. He bounded out of the clearing, and straight into the path of one of the warriors. The tall man, with his face slathered in paint, looked upon him with disgust and hatred. His eyes were fierce and his nostrils flared as he raised his spear into the air and...started licking him? Remus awoke with a start to see a large black mass hovering near his body. As his eyes adjusted to the darkness, he realized it was a great, black dog licking his face.

"Padfoot." Remus muttered. Padfoot was on his hind legs with his enormous paws resting on the bed next to Remus. When he realized Remus was awake he bounded onto the bed and nuzzled his face into the crook of Remus's arm until he had forced him to lift it enough to slip under. The warm fur of the dog was comforting in the chill that came over the castle at night. The dog lifted his head to resume licking at the bruises covering Remus's wan face. 

"Oh merlin Sirius, how many times do I have to tell you how disgusting that is?" Remus groaned. He raised his arm to push the dog away, and a searing pain shot through his back. It had only been a few hours since Madam Pomfrey had fully closed the particularly deep gash in his shoulder, and he had moved it too soon. He grimaced, and let his arm collapse back to the bed. He took deep breathes and waited for the white hot pain to subside. When he opened his eyes there was no longer a black dog staring back at him, but a boy with long black hair and bright grey eyes that almost glowed in the darkness. He looked at Remus with concern, searching for a sign that he needed to wake Pomfrey. 

"Sirius," Remus tried to speak but his throat was too dry. He montioned with his hand to the glass of water on the table next to the hospital bed. Sirius grabbed the glass and expertly slipped one arm behind Remus to prop him up while steadily bringing the glass to his lips. Remus drained the glass in a matter of seconds, but even that amount of energy made him light headed. After Sirius lowered him onto the pillow, he sat on the bed next to him.  
"How bad is it?" Sirius asked.  
"It looks worse than it is. I'm not usually able to stay awake so long after the transformation, much less have a conversation like this. Having yall there helps, but the moon is up for so long now that even with the added distraction, the wolf gets...restless." Remus answered, regretting telling the truth as soon as the words left his mouth.  
In the light of the waning moon that streamed in through the high window in the private room of the hospital wing, he could see the look of frustration and disappointment on Sirius' face. 

Ever since the beginning of their friendship, Sirius had been fiercely protective of Remus. Before he knew about Remus's secret, he would interrogate Remus relentlessly every time Remus came back to the dorm room with bruises and scratches. Then in second year, when they figured out that Remus was a werewolf, instead of abandoning him or telling the whole school, Sirius was determined to find a way to make transformations easier. He ignored Remus's protests of the danger of becoming animagi, and eventually pulled it off with more success than many fully trained wizards. This devotion was more than Remus ever thought he deserved. He had so little to offer to Sirius, which is why he now felt horrible for admitting that, despite all they had done for him, his problem was one with no solution. Sirius didn't deserve to know that. 

"Where are the others?" Remus questioned, trying to change the subject. Sirius' demeanor immediately went from concern to annoyance.  
"Peter is completely inept in defense against the dark arts and hasn't even begun his essay, so he asked James for help. You know how James loves attention. He couldn't just say no to his 'number one fan.'" His aversion to Peter's idolization of James was obvious by the sound of his voice. "So I slipped out of the room to come see you. Anything is better than sitting and listening to Peter confuse fairies and pixies. Really, how could someone be so daft?" Sirius, exasperated, sprawled out onto the bed next to Remus.  
"Sirius," Remus cautioned, "Peter isn't daft, he just needs time to memorize all the differences. Anyway, have you finished your essay?" Remus looked at Sirius skeptically.  
"Im going to dash it off at breakfast. It won't take long, and I've had more important things to do. Like worrying about you." Before Remus could protest, Sirius spoke again. "By the way, what were you dreaming about before I woke you up?" Sirius rolled over to get a better look at Remus's face. 

Sirius knew the full moons went smoother for Remus now that they could be with the wolf, but he wouldn't be able to tell by looking at him. His sandy hair was matted to his head, his eyes had deep purple circles underneath them, his skin looked paper thin and his lower lip was split open. The only part that looked like Remus, like his Remus, were his eyes. They were always a warm, brown that looked as smooth as milk chocolate. But as Sirius looked into them now, they were full of fear.

"I don't think I was dreaming." Remus muttered. He closed his eyes and rolled onto his back so that Sirius couldn't keep searching his face. He didn't like when Sirius looked at him like that. With one glance, Sirius always knew everything going on inside Remus's mind, and some things he preferred to keep hidden. 

"Remus don't lie to me, because frankly, you're bloody awful at it." Sirius propped himself up on his elbow to look at his face again. "Anyway it's no use pretending. I could tell you were having a nightmare by the way you were murmuring." Sirius carefully nudged Remus's arm in a place where there were no bruises. "C'mon Moony, you can tell me." He pleaded. Remus finally spoke, but kept his eyes shut.

"I dreamed that I was the wolf, except it wasn't the wolf inside, it was me. I was in control. Like an animagus. And instead of blinding anger, I was filled with crippling fear. There are some remote tribes that were rumored to have a cure for...for werewolves. When I was younger we visited a few and when they couldn't cure me, they turned against me. I guess I must have been remembering it in my dream, and then they were chasing me, and...and I was trapped in a clearing and I could hear the beats off the drums over and over and over..." He trailed off hardly able to breath as fear gripped his throat and caused him to break into a cold sweat. Sirius reached for his hand and Remus squeezed it tightly. Once he could breath normally he continued. "And then I ran and they caught me and they were going to kill me and then—" he stopped again. He took a deep breath, opened his eyes, and unclenched his fists. He rolled over to see the big black dog nuzzled up against his side, barely breathing, watching him intently.  
"—and then I woke up because you licked me." Remus finished in a low voice. The dog broke into a grin and licked the side of Remus's face.  
"Sirius, I'm serious. You have to stop doing that." He groaned.  
The dog let out a whimper and covered his nose with his paws, which made Remus laugh. "Sorry the puns are too easy." He said as he closed his eyes and stroked the warm fur of the dog absentmindedly. Remus buried his face into Sirius' fur. 

"Thank you." He whispered. Remus closed his eyes again and allowed the slow breathing of his friend beside him lull him back to sleep. This time, he did not dream of being hunted by angry warriors. Instead, he and his friends were racing around the school grounds in the light of the full moon in animagi form. Experiencing the world as few humans ever had. Experiencing it as animals, as a part of nature. 

At some point in the night Sirius must have transfigured back into his normal self to make more room on the bed, because when Madam Pomfrey awoke the next morning to bring Remus his potions and a cup of tea, she was startled to find the two of them sleeping peacefully in the small bed. Instead of waking them, she conjured up a second cup of tea and left them both to cool on the beside table. She glanced back at the boys once more before leaving the room. Her heart was warmed to see just how much Remus's friends cared for him. She knew Sirius was a good boy despite being a trouble maker, but the joy she knew he and the others brought Remus was more healing than any spell she could perform. It was the magic of friendship.


End file.
